Category: Artificial reproduction

Polish physicians and medical students declaration of faith and freedom of conscience

On 5 March, 2014, a Declaration of Faith for Catholic doctors and medical students was published in a letter by Dr. Wanda Półtawska, a friend of Pope John Paul II.  It was subsequently signed by over 3,000 people

The Declaration was carved onto two stone tablets and deposited at Jasna Gora on 25 May, 2014, during a pilgrimmage of health care workers to honour the canonization of John Paul II.  It closes with an affirmation that Catholics, including physicians, “have a right to perform their professional activities in accordance with their conscience.”  [Deklaracja Wiary website]

Deklaracja Wiary

Declaration of Faith*
Lekarzy katolickich i studentów medycyny w przedmiocie płciowości i płodności ludzkiej
Of Catholic doctors and students of medicine, on the sexuality and fertility of human beings
Nam – lekarzom – powierzono strzec życie ludzkie od jego początku…  We, doctors, entrusted to protect human life from its conception until its natural end;
1. WIERZĘ w jednego Boga, Pana Wszechświata, który stworzył mężczyznę i niewiastę na obraz swój. 1. BELIEVE in one God, the Lord of the Universe, who created man and woman in his own image.
2. UZNAJĘ, iż ciało ludzkie i życie, będąc darem Boga, jest święte i nietykalne:
– ciało podlega prawom natury, ale naturę stworzył Stwórca, – moment poczęcia człowieka i zejścia z tego świata zależy wyłącznie od decyzji Boga.Jeżeli decyzję taką podejmuje człowiek, to gwałci nie tylko podstawowe przykazania
Dekalogu, popełniając czyny takie jak aborcja, antykoncepcja, sztuczne zapłodnienie, eutanazja, ale poprzez zapłodnienie in vitro odrzuca samego Stwórcę.		 2. PROCLAIM that the human body and life, being gifts from God, are sacred and inviolable and that,a. The body is subject to the laws of nature but is formed by The Creator;b. The moments of human conception and dying offer us, by God’s grace, the opportunity to participate in God’s love, creation and passion. If a person acts by their own will to negatively alter conception and bring about death, then he or she not only violates the basic commandments of the Decalogue, committing acts such as abortion, euthanasia, contraception, artificial insemination, and/or in vitro fertilisation, but rejects The Creator as well.
3. PRZYJMUJĘ prawdę, iż płeć człowieka dana przez Boga jest zdeterminowana biologicznie i jest sposobem istnienia osoby ludzkiej. Jest nobilitacją, przywilejem, bo człowiek został wyposażony w narządy, dzięki którym ludzie przez rodzicielstwo stają się współpracownikami Boga Samego w dziele stworzenia – powołanie do rodzicielstwa jest planem Bożym i tylko wybrani przez Boga i związani z Nim świętym sakramentem małżeństwa mają prawo używać tych organów, które stanowią sacrum w ciele ludzkim. 3. ACCEPT the truth that human sexuality is a gift of God and provides the method by which human beings are ennobled with the privilege to become “co-creators with God in the work of creation” through parenthood. The call to parenthood is God’s plan, and only those bound with Him by the holy sacrament of marriage have the ability to rightly use these gifts, which are sacred, in the human body.
4. STWIERDZAM, że podstawą godności i wolności lekarza katolika jest wyłącznie jego sumienie oświecone Duchem świętym i nauką Kościoła i ma on prawo działania zgodnie ze swoim sumieniem i etyką lekarską, która uwzględnia prawo sprzeciwu wobec działań niezgodnych z sumieniem. 4. ACKNOWLEDGE that the foundation for the dignity and freedom of the Catholic doctor is exclusively his or her conscience, enlightened by the Holy Spirit and informed by the teaching of the Church, and that he or she has the right to act according to said conscience and in keeping with medical ethics that have established the doctor’s right to oppose all acts that are against one’s conscience.
5. UZNAJĘ pierwszeństwo prawa Bożego nad prawem ludzkim – aktualną potrzebę przeciwstawiania się narzuconym antyhumanitarnym ideologiom współczesnej cywilizacji, – potrzebę stałego pogłębiania nie tylko wiedzy zawodowej, ale także wiedzy o antropologii chrześcijańskiej i teologii ciała. 5. RECOGNISE the priority of God’s law over the law of nations and,a. The current need for providing alternatives to the anti-human ideologies and dictates imposed by some contemporary societies.b. The need to constantly deepen not only professional knowledge but also the knowledge of Christian anthropology and theology of the body.
6. UWAŻAM, że – nie narzucając nikomu swoich poglądów, przekonań – lekarze katoliccy mają prawo oczekiwać i wymagać szacunku dla swoich poglądów i wolności w wykonywaniu czynności zawodowych zgodnie ze swoim sumieniem. 6. BELIEVE that, while not imposing their beliefs and opinions, Catholics, including doctors and students, have a right to perform their professional activities in accordance with their conscience.
Wysokim uznaniem darzymy tych lekarzy i członków służby zdrowia, którzy w pełnieniu swojego zawodu ponad wszelką ludzką korzyść przenoszą to, czego wymaga od nich szczególny wzgląd na chrześcijańskie powołanie. Niech niezachwianie trwają w zamiarze popierania zawsze tych rozwiązań, które zgadzają się z wiarą i prawym rozumem oraz niech starają się dla tych rozwiązań zjednać uznanie i szacunek ze strony własnego środowiska. Niech ponadto uważają za swój zawodowy obowiązek zdobywanie w tej trudnej dziedzinie niezbędnej wiedzy, aby małżonkom zasięgającym opinii, mogli służyć należytymi radami i wskazywać właściwą drogę, czego słusznie i sprawiedliwie się od nich wymaga. Likewise we hold in the highest esteem those doctors and members of the nursing profession who, in the exercise of their calling, endeavor to fulfill the demands of their Christian vocation before any merely human interest. Let them therefore continue constant in their resolution always to support those lines of action which accord with faith and with right reason. And let them strive to win agreement and support for these policies among their professional colleagues. Moreover, they should regard it as an essential part of their skill to make themselves fully proficient in this difficult field of medical knowledge. For then, when married couples ask for their advice, they may be in a position to give them right counsel and to point them in the proper direction. Married couples have a right to expect this much from them.
Paweł VI, Humanae vitae, 27. Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 27
 *Translation by Matercare International

Genetic screening to improve intelligence

Writing in The Conversation, ethicist Julian Savulescu discusses recently published findings that indicate that children with two copies of a common gene (Thr92Ala) and low thyroid hormone levels apparently increase the likelihood of low IQ by a factor of four.  Since the “risk of low intelligence” depends upon both the genetic configuration and hormonal level, he suggests that such children could be treated with supplemental thyroid hormones “to enhance their intelligence.”

The “low intelligence” to which he refers is the 4 % of the U.K. population estimated to have an IQ of between 70 and 85.

“If we could enhance their intelligence, say with thyroid hormone supplementation,” he writes, “we should.”

Savulescu’s focus on intelligence in this case should not become a distraction.  Supplementing hormones seems to present no special ethical problems, since the goal in that case would not be eugenic perfectionism or enhancement, but therapeutic correction of a deficiency.  However, Savulescu goes beyond this to propose that IVF embryos be screened, and that embryos found to have two copies of the Thr92Ala gene not be selected for implantation.  What is unstated is that the ‘defective’ embryos should be killed.  This would be an ethical/moral problem for anyone who holds that deliberately killing human embryos is wrong.

 

Stop fretting about 3-parent embryos and get ready for “multiplex parenting”

Michael Cook*

The controversy over three-parent embryos could soon be old hat. Writing in one of the world’s leading journals, one of Britain’s best-known bioethicists has outlined a strategy for creating children with four or more genetic parents. He calls it “multiplex parenting”.

John Harris, of the University of Manchester, and two colleagues, César Palacios-González and Giuseppe Testa contend in the Journal of Medical Ethics (free online) that this is one of many exciting consequences of using stem cells to create synthetic eggs and sperm. (Or as they prefer to call them, in vitro generated gametes (IVG).)

After the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells in 2007, theoretically any cell in the body can be created from something as simple as a skin cell. Mice have already been born from sperm and eggs created from stem cells. Harris and his colleagues believe that the day is not far off when scientists will be able to do the same with humans. In their paper, they spin an ethical justification for this and outline some possible uses.

First, is it ethical? Of course it is, so long as experiments on mice show that it is safe. After all, they write, this is already a much higher ethical bar than the one used for the first IVF babies. “If impractically high precautionary thresholds were decisive we would not have vaccines, nor IVF, nor any other advance. Nothing is entirely safe.” Besides, any children brought into the world are better off than if they never existed. . . [Full Text]

Artificial reproduction unregulated in Ireland

Artificial reproduction is not regulated in Ireland, so that sperm and egg donors and people having recourse to it and children conceived or carried to term in surrogacy arrangements may have to go to court to determine their legal status and relationships.  Questions about what to do with embryos abandoned by their parents have also arisen, although this problem also exists in jurisdictions that regulate the procedures.  The Irish Ministry of Health is now considering regulatory proposals. [Irish Examiner]

Embryos abandoned by parents present ethical, legal quandary

The Calgary Herald reports that fewer than 5% (20,000) of the roughly 400,000 frozen embryos at fertility clinics in the United States have been abandoned by their parents.  It suggests that over 135,000 frozen embryos are stored at clinics in Canada; a  5% rate would imply over 6,700 abandoned embryos.  That figure might be too low, since one clinic is reported to have 1,000 “unclaimed” embryos.  The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has decided that clinics can destroy embryos that have been abandoned for at least five years, the parents cannot be located, and there are no written instructions to indicate what should be done with them.  The guidance is legally and ethically contested. [Calgary Herald]